Chocolate cuts risk of suffering heart flutter
EATING chocolate significantly cuts the risk of an irregular heartbeat, a study suggests.
Research has found the best way for women to prevent atrial fibrillation is to enjoy a single serving of chocolate a week – while men can have up to six.
Up to 500,000 people in Britain – around a third of sufferers – are unaware they have the condition, which dramatically increases the risk of stroke.
AF can be caused by high blood pressure, heart disease, thyroid disease and diabetes.
The most common symptoms are palpitations, breathlessness and dizziness.
Researchers examined the medical history and chocolate consumption of 26,400 men and 29,100 women – 55,502 in total.
A serving was classified as one
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Carrying excess body fat can change the levels of sex hormones like oestrogen and testosterone, can cause levels ounce [30g] but the type of chocolate eaten wasn’t recorded.
Over 13.5 years, 3,346 new cases of atrial fibrillation were diagnosed. After accounting for other factors related to heart disease, of insulin to rise and lead to inflammation, all of which have been associated with increased cancer risk.
Dr Heinz Freisling, lead author of the International Agency for Research on Cancer study, said: “Our findings show both body mass index and where body fat is carried can be good indicators of obesity-related cancer risk.”
The study is published in the British Journal of Cancer. there were 10 per cent fewer cases of AF in people who ate between one and three servings of chocolate a month than among those who ate less than one serving a month.
There were 17 per cent fewer cases among those who ate one weekly serving; 20 per cent for between two and six servings a week and 14 per cent for those who ate it once or more each day.
Atrial fibrillation was lower among women than among men irrespective of intake.
One weekly serving lowered the risk by 21 per cent for women but risk fell 23 per cent for men who ate it two to six times a week.
Protective
Study author Dr Elizabeth Mostofsky, of Harvard TH Chan School in Boston, US, said in the journal Heart: “Most of the chocolate consumed in our sample probably contained relatively low concentrations of the potentially protective ingredients [but] we still observed a robust statistically significant association.”
About 1.2 million Britons have been diagnosed with AF but the British Heart Foundation said there were “hundreds of thousands” more undiagnosed.
Consultant cardiologist Dr Tim Chico said: “The best way to reduce our chance of this heart rhythm problem is to maintain a healthy weight and blood pressure, exercise regularly and reduce alcohol which will also cut the chances of other diseases.”